Winning As a Leader in the Face of Daunting Odds

Opposition is a natural part of life. just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition-such as lifting weights we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity. Stephen R. Covey

I’ve never been more conflicted with a decision in my Marriott career, then when I received the results from the hotel’s 1995 fall employee opinion survey. after six months as the GM of the Fairfield Inn, located in Wilmington NC, the staff rated my leadership ability in the bottom quartile of all the Fairfield Inn hotels in the Mid-Atlantic region. if this blow wasn’t enough, I had just suffered my worst personal tragedy with the unexpected death of my teenage son, Blease, two months prior to the staff completing this survey.

No one seemed to consider that I’d spent three of the six months traveling back and forth from NC to GA to complete Fairfield Inn management training or the task of relocating my teenage daughter, Dee, and our personal belongings to a new city and state. until this experience, for five years as a Courtyard by Marriott manager, I’d received favorable ratings of 85% or better.

I’m certain that my frustration and self-doubt as to rather I made the right decision had a lot to do with my frame of mind and the state of my emotions due to my son’s death. But, that didn’t stop me from initially thinking, I made a BIG mistake. Days, weeks, and a few months passed as I continued to wrestle with the thought, maybe I should resign from the position and return to my hometown of Columbia, SC.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill

Eventually, I dismissed that idea when I took the time to consider all that I had to overcome, all that I had sacrificed with the hope of giving my children a better life. I wasn’t sure what exactly I had to do but I knew at that moment of remembering my history, Now, wasn’t the time to throw in the towel. No, instead I would have to dig deeper to overcome this obstacle. Period

During my annual performance at the beginning of 1996, my Regional Manager, Steve Dawe and I had a candid conversation about the employee opinion survey, in addition to other performance measures. after our discussion, I knew that I would have to step up my leadership abilities to succeed in this position. I wasn’t about to accept failure in the position that had compelled me to years of commitment and a relentless resolve to exceed expectations in my position. to do so would have taken lightly all that I had overcome. Quitting, for now, was not an option.

Steve suggested that I approach the staff from a different perspective. considering I had been with Marriott 10 years, I had been immersed in its culture and values by working in its full-service division and the Courtyard division. In my mind, I was an expert on Marriott’s excellence and what it took to succeed working for the company.

I was so caught up in my way that I wasn’t smart enough to realize that in my quest to make the Fairfield Inn guest experience be of the same quality of the full-service and Courtyard guests, I had alienated over three-fourths of the staff. my actions said to the staff, I know better than you how to provide service excellence the Marriott way. I came to this awareness, after speaking to key influencers on the staff. First, I had to admit that I had been wrong to come into the Fairfield Inn acting as if I knew everything. I had to back paddle and  5;tart over with the building of relationships from a place of respect and value.
If you want to take your mission in life to the next level, if you’re stuck and you don’t know how to rise, don’t look outside yourself. Look inside. Don’t let your fears keep you mired in the crowd. Abolish your fears and raise your commitment level to the point of no return, and I guarantee you that the Champion within will burst forth to propel you toward victory. Bruce Jenner

As I began to ask questions of the staff, to gain their input regarding improvements I believed necessary, they slowly began to share their knowledge and ideas with me. it was a start. soon I realized that we shared the same goal for the hotel, we wanted it to be successful. As a team, we started focusing on what we shared in common. this became a turning point. I challenged myself to step up my leadership game with the goal of becoming the best GM that they would have.

To take our team to the next level, we needed a tune-up and an alignment of our values, actions, and goals. So, I began a staff development and growth campaign. I went to Sam’s Wholesale and purchased a copy of John’s Maxwell’s book, Developing the Leaders Around you, for each member of the staff. I used the book as the topic of discussion in our monthly employee meetings. I took the steps necessary to continue to immerse myself in the Fairfield Inn’s culture. In April of 1996, the employees took the hotel’s spring employee opinion survey.

During the summer of 1996, we received the results from the survey and all areas of employee satisfaction improved across the board. So much I was recognized at the 1997 Fairfield Inn/Courtyard GM’s Conference as one of the Fairfield Inn GM’s with the greatest improvement in his or her employee survey.
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. Horace

This accomplishment fueled my drive to see what more we could accomplish as a team. I continued my staff development and growth campaign, by sending all members of the staff to an Intro to Computer class and by contracting with a local training consultant to create and facilitate team-building classes that took place at our sister hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott. In 1997, I purchased a copy of John Maxwell’s book, becoming a Person of Influence for each staff member. during the year, I used the insights from the book as discussion material in our employee meetings.

My commitment to the success of the individuals on the team became my driving purpose as a leader. it is the why that gave me the courage and tenacity to grow my skills so that I could develop the leaders around me. our commitment as a team and the results we were able to produce took center stage in 1998 at the Fairfield Inn GM’s Conference in New Orleans, LA. Despite our numerous starts, and stops as a team, the horrendous hurricane seasons of 1996-97, and the influx of newer hotels in our market at a hurried pace, we were awarded four #1 customer satisfaction awards at the GM’s conference, out of 350 Fairfield Inn hotels. our team was recognized as #1 in Service, #1 in Value, #1 Room Cleanliness and #1 in Maintenance and Upkeep of the Building.

These awards were the icing on the cake with a strawberry on top. Despite the daunting odds we faced in the beginning of our team’s evolution, we had become a winning team. I was and I continue to feel a great sense of pride in our ability to overcome the obstacles that could have hindered each of us from experiencing this great achievement. and to have our tireless effort towards creating memorable and value-added customer service experiences be recognized by our guests made it just that much better. we celebrated with a beach party. Staff members from other Fairfield Inn’s traveled to Wilmington so that we could travel to Myrtle Beach. soon after this experience, many members, including my Assistant Manager, Cinia Willis began to pursue and attain leadership promotions. Today, several members of that Fairfield Inn team continue to work in leadership positions in the Hospitality Industry. others have struck out on their own as small business owners. and many successfully transferred their skills to other industries.

Just like a prizefighter in a boxing championship, there may be moments when life throws you a sucker punch. In that moment, you have a choice to stay down and call it quits, or pull yourself up by the strength of your spirit, mind, and body to finish the fight like a winner. if you decide to stay in the ring and fight for your goal, your commitment and bulldog tenacity to win will serve notice to those that may doubt your chance. at the end of the day, I encourage you with these words from President Abraham Lincoln, Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.